National noodle

BANGKOK – In the late 1930s, field marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, at the time Thailand’s prime minister, launched a contest to develop a national noodle dish.

Why would a prime minister busy himself with a noodle contest in the midst of an economic depression in his country?

One reason was to reduce Chinese influence in the culture of a land that has never been colonized by foreigners. Back in the day the Thais consumed a lot of wheat noodles, whose roots were Chinese. The winning noodle entry was made of rice, similar to what’s used in the Vietnamese pho.

The winning noodle dish was stir-fried with a basic combination of beansprouts, peanuts, fried egg and preserved radish. It was flavored with the condiments that please the Thai palate – a combination of salty, sweet and sour. Shrimps and meats were later tossed in, and Thai-style stir-fried rice noodle – kway teow phat Thai – was born.

Thais took to their national noodle, and it wasn’t simply because they were ordered to do so by their PM “Phibun” who was an ultra-nationalist military dictator.

Consumption of the Thai noodle was seen to reduce consumption of rice as the national staple. This freed up rice stocks for export that contributed to buttressing the Thai economy during a downturn. So from its inception to its consumption, the iconic pad Thai – now renowned worldwide – is infused with nationalism.

Or at least this is what foreigners on a food tour in Thailand are told. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the story. But I can confirm that pad Thai, which other accounts trace to the time when Ayutthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, between the 14th to the 18th centuries, deserves being called a national dish in a country renowed for its cuisine.

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And I can believe that the Thais’ patriotism and strong sense of national identity would extend to their food consumption patterns.

Those elements also help make tourism an inclusive success in Thailand. The country is geared to make tourism work.

Late in the evening last Sunday, the lines mostly of foreign visitors were still long at the Thipsamai restaurant in an old section of this Thai capital. Cooks expertly prepared “modern” pad Thai (wrapped in a thin layer of scrambled eggs, with the dish yellow-orange from shrimp fat) and the classic version on giant woks while tourists watched or took photographs. Thipsamai has received raves from foodies of The Guardian, CNN and other foreign media organizations.

Thai tourism is a top provider of livelihoods and jobs all the way down to the grassroots. My kid brother and his family took our mom and me on a food tour of this city, during which we enjoyed excellent dishes not only in restaurants but also those prepared along alleys and sidewalks or pushed on carts.

Tuk-tuks – the Thai version of the Pinoy tricycle, but cleaner and designed for tourists – took us around, including to the 24-hour flower market, Chinatown (said to be the largest in the world) and the Reclining Buddha Temple before the final stop in Thipsamai.

On Monday morning on the way to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market outside the city, our toilet stop was in a place where we watched local cooks make coconut palm sugar paste in large woks and shape them into coils that hardened as they cooled. The place was so packed with tourists I wondered why we haven’t thought of turning our panocha operations into similar tourist draws.

We can show visitors how we make bagoong or shrimp paste, or how we prepare balut and salted eggs. Tourists like to see how local products are made. We can have tours with tastings for local wines such as tuba and basi.

The Thais understand the tourism value of bodies of water. Our food tour included a stop in the Bitter Deck restaurant whose rooftop bar provides a terrific view of the Chao Phraya River and Bangkok’s Wat Arun or Temple of Dawn. I’m still waiting for such a watering hole to be put up overlooking the Pasig River.

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Although Thailand has become more prosperous than our country and the baht is stronger than the peso, prices in this capital are still generally cheaper. Tuk-tuk tour rides reportedly start at around 30 baht (P46.50) per person for a short distance. Even locals still ride the tuk-tuk.

Thipsamai pad thai is about 90 baht per plate (about P140). In our second stop on the food tour, at the Michelin-recommended Ann Guay Tiew Kua Gai, we stuffed our faces with several versions of fried rice noodle with chicken (with raw egg, runny egg, fried egg) for about 60 baht per plate (about P90).

And it’s not just the food. Accommodations, transportation and tour packages are generally more affordable than those of comparable quality in our country. You can get great massage in this city for about a third of the price offered in our top spas.

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The tourism-oriented country is not without the risks and annoyances faced by international travelers. In our trip to the Floating Market, for example, operator Tour East did not include in its online program that the tour fee excluded payment for the “paddle boats” that are supposed to be part of the experience. Only when the tour was underway did the guide say that each paddle boat, which can accommodate no more than four persons, would cost an additional 900 baht (about P1,400).

At the MBK Center, similar to the bargain shopping mall in Greenhills, San Juan, a guy in charge of the taxi queue number also preys on groups of foreigners. He offered to get us a taxi van for 500 baht, with no waiting. When we said it was too expensive for a short ride, he groused that we could pay 300 baht – but we faced an hour’s wait because of the long queue. In fact there were a lot of taxis outside, and we paid less than 200 baht for two cabs. During our wait of less than 10 minutes, the guy, using the same spiel about a long wait, got a group of Asians to book a taxi van to their hotel for 1,500 baht.

But the Thais, aware of the importance of such matters as well as personal safety to tourists, issue warnings to travelers. At the Floating Market, the guide advised us to haggle and insist on a 70 percent markdown of any asking price.

During the nighttime food tour, the guide advised us to be careful with our personal belongings, aware that keeping guests safe makes for a memorable experience that can draw more foreign visitors to their country. As in the development of their national noodle, patriotism is also at work in the success of Thai tourism.